On the one month anniversary of the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students at Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Washington joined others throughout the country in participating in the National School Walkout on March 14 to honor the 17 victims of the shooting and to protest gun violence.

More than 1,100 non-public school students converged in Annapolis on March 13 for Nonpublic School Advocacy Day to visit their legislators and advocate for programs such as Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today (BOOST), which provides scholarships for low-income students to attend the non-public school of their choice.

Joined at a special Mass on March 4 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle by families from throughout the Archdiocese of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl announced and issued a detailed plan for how parishes and individual Catholics can expand and strengthen the Catholic Church’s marriage and family outreach.

As Cardinal Donald Wuerl issued his new pastoral plan to broaden outreach for marriage and family life, the congregation at the special Mass on March 4 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle included families from across the Archdiocese of Washington, representing the 139 parishes in the District of Columbia and five surrounding Maryland counties.

In his
1995 “Letter to Women,” Pope Saint John Paul II applauded the roles of
women in society, at home, and in religious life, and told them that
through their unique insight, they “enrich the world's understanding and
help to make human relations more honest and authentic.”

Dozens of Catholics were arrested on Feb. 27 for an act of civil disobedience inside of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington. The participants were praying and calling upon legislators to pass legislation to protect young immigrants from deportation as a part of the “Catholic Action Day with Dreamers.”

In the fall of 1987, Deacons Joseph, James and John Somerville were interviewed and photographed by the Catholic Standard
newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington, for a story that noted
their distinction then of being the only three brothers in the United
States to be serving as permanent deacons in the Catholic Church.

Catholics from throughout the state of
Maryland gathered in Annapolis on Feb. 22 to meet with their legislators
and discuss issues of importance for Catholics in this year’s General
Assembly. Among the hundreds of people who attended the annual
“Catholics in Annapolis” gathering was a group from districts 39 and 19
in Maryland.

More than 600 people preparing to be welcomed into the Catholic Church gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Feb. 18 for the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion, celebrated by Washington Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville.

The penitential season of Lent is not a time of sadness, but “a joyful season because we have the great opportunity to grow closer to Christ,” Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, rector of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, said during a noonday Ash Wednesday Mass on Feb. 14.

Saying the time had come to “right a wrong,” Cardinal Donald Wuerl at
a Feb. 3 Mass blessed and dedicated commemorative bronze plaques
honoring unknown enslaved men, women and children buried throughout the
Archdiocese of Washington.

A group of priests, religious, young immigrants and their supporters gathered outside of the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 6 to pray for the Dreamers whose lives are in limbo and for the legislators who have the power to change that.

The Capital One Arena in Washington, which typically houses professional basketball games and sold-out concerts, was filled with thousands of youth from around the country that were gathered to stand up for life on Jan 19.